


no liquor left on the shelf

by nunaseaweed



Series: Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time [3]
Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, biana almost died, keefe is a good friend, ok so fitz commited murder, sophie is stupid x023823098409
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 03:15:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29395371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nunaseaweed/pseuds/nunaseaweed
Summary: Fitz murders a man. Surprisingly, this is made to make you love Fitz.
Relationships: Dex Dizznee/Biana Vacker
Series: Don't Threaten Me With a Good Time [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2159292
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	no liquor left on the shelf

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: Honey, the only things I own are the plot and the clothes on my back.  
> Notes:  
> -Two years after Legacy  
> -Biana and Dex are dating.  
> -The love triangle had this whole mess where Sophie chose Keefe and he freaked cuz he was only pretending to like her to hide the fact that he is gay, and on Biana’s advice, came out to everyone. Fitz didn’t care that he pretty much ruined his shot with Sophie, he was just so sad and mad at himself that Keefe couldn’t tell him. And then later, Sophie fell back on Fitz and that was a problem on its own, and there was a fight, and now they're in denial pretending nothing ever happened and going on a mission to stop the Neverseen. But the mission didn’t go so well and ended up with Alvar (who’s alive because I said so) trying and almost murdering Biana, and Fitz murdering him to stop him.  
> -Keefe and Tam are dating.  
> -Sorry, but Marella, Linh and Wylie didn’t come on the mission, they were occupied with something else, therefore are not here.  
> \- Start listening to “High” by 5SOS, it really sets the mood for me. I was listening to it when I thought of this, and I thought of it in movie form, so just imagine that. I apologize in advance for all the breaks after that, but in my brain I'm imagining a camera switching to different scenes.

Fitz stood in the bathroom, washing the blood of his hands. His brother’s blood. His blood.

He pushed away the tiny voice in the back of his head, speaking in Alvar’s voice, telling him he was a horrible person.  _ What kind of man spills his own family’s blood? _

Fitz could see the tears rolling down his face, but couldn’t feel them. As if they were in another dimension. If who he was looking at in the mirror wasn’t himself.  _ So? Alvar tried to kill Biana. He did the same thing?  _ He fought back.

_ I thought you were better than him. It was obvious he was evil. You were supposed to be the good boy, the hero,  _ the voice taunted.  _ Now you're nothing better than him. _

Fitz felt himself stop breathing. He didn’t feel in control of his own body. So he didn’t fight back and try to draw a breath. Or move normally as he washed off the soap. He let himself move like a robot, and watched as if he were a different person. When the bubbles washed away and the tint of red on the back of his hand stayed, he realized why. He was a different person. He was a killer.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Elwin doesn’t close the door completely when he leaves. Not until he’s done helping, and lets you have your privacy. So when Biana heard the door click shut she let out a tiny scream.

Her own brother. Sure he’d never been around much once he moved out, and sure he was with the enemy, but she’d never imagined…

Biana started sobbing. Her older brother, who she’d looked up to most of her life, tried to murder her. And he almost succeeded!

She touched the wound on the left side of her stomach where Alvar had stabbed her, puncturing one of her vital organs, according to Teirgan. The bandage wrapped all around her stomach had a huge red spot where the wound was, from the blood seeping through her stitches and a couple layers of the bandage.

Elwin had forced everyone to leave when he was close to finishing her surgery, so that she could get some rest alone. While it was hard to wake up alone, Biana was thankful she could cry in peace, without having to hold it in for Fitz’s sake.

_ Fitz _

The name felt like metal on her tongue. She didn’t know why until the extremely unhelpful voice that haunted her dreams decided to help out.  _ He’s a murder. Your brother, Wonderboy, the homicidal maniac. _

Biana wasn’t a newcomer to Vespera’s voice speaking unhelpful thoughts in her head. Strong-willed and determined, she pushed the voice out of her mind and remembered that he only killed Alvar to protect her. 

_ A couple of more inches and you would’ve been gone, Biana. You’re lucky Fitz interfered when he did,  _ Elwin had said. She clung to those words. Of course, murder shouldn’t be validated, but what choice did he have? A couple more inches… a couple more seconds. A couple more seconds of Alvar breathing and she wouldn’t have been. Fitz wasn’t about sacrificing his sister’s life for his own soul’s purity. Always a giver. But the real problem at hand was how to tell him that.

Biana tried putting herself in her brother’s shoes. Kill the villain, or allow her brother to die so her mind wouldn’t be tainted? The answer was obvious. But she had to think like Fitz too. He’d been wanting to kill Alvar for years, but then after, there was always the thought. He’d killed his brother.

And Biana was sobbing and shaking all over again, remembering. He was her brother. He helped teach her how to walk. She watched him help Fitz get ready for school. What an actor he must’ve been. That, at the least, she could admire.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Shaking as he lifted his hands up to dry them, Fitz looked at himself in the mirror, and couldn’t recognize the person he saw. 

Then he realized. This was him all along. The raw version of him. Blood stained hands and tears running down his face. This was inside him all along. 

He started actually crying now. Letting the tears down and hit the floor with a small splash. 

This… this monster had been inside him the entire time. No wonder he’d wanted to kill Alvar. That was who he really was.

Remembering the bloody scene made him remember Biana. His sister, who’d he killed someone to save, was sitting in the Healing Center not two halls away, hopefully recovering. And here he was being scared of himself in a bathroom. What an asshole he was.

He considered going to see her but stopped himself as he looked in the mirror again. Who wanted to see this? No one. They should’ve locked him up in Exile. Hopefully they were planning to now.

The monster he was belonged in a cage.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Biana pressed the wound in hopes of easing the pain as her entire body shook with sobs. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have really thought she could talk him into putting the knife down.

The same knife Fitz had brought down on his throat.

She could practically hear the sputtering noise as she had laid next to him, her own blood mingling with her brothers. She could practically see Fitz’s horrified face when he realized what he’d done. How she’d reached out to comfort him. And how Keefe’s footsteps echoed in the room as she’d passed out.

The room became black. Biana tried to snap herself out of the recurring memory, but she couldn’t. The black walls seemed to be getting closer, about to close in on her.

She let go of her wound entirely, burying her face in her hands to escape the nightmare. Her wound throbbed painfully from her sharp cries, but she ignored it in hopes of the pain jolting her back to reality.

As the walls got closer, she thought. Her brother killed her other brother (who was evil) because he’d tried to kill her. Who were those humans who had their reality show Sophie was talking about? The Kardashians? They had nothing on the Vacker siblings.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Fitz felt the wall collide with his back as he cried violently. 

What kind of golden boy was he? 5 years ago he had it all in the bag. Already famous, already known for being a great telepath, he was guaranteed a bright future.

Look at him now, a nineteen-year-old who just committed the homicide of his own brother. Which he’d been hoping for, for years. 

Fitz’s back slid down the wall and he sat on the floor, reflecting on everything he’d done wrong. He should’ve done this, should’ve done that. Should’ve, should’ve, should’ve. But should’ve couldn’t change anything.

And neither could shouldn’t’ve, but that didn’t stop him from going through multiple scenarios where he shouldn’t have done something. Most of them involved Sophie, and yelling.

Fitz dug his nails into his hands, as if it would stop the Fitz in his memories from yelling at her.

Sophie. His light in the dark. More of a firefly. You get so close, but can’t quite catch it. He never could catch her. Even when she wanted to be caught.

Their relationship had gone so badly. No wonder she wanted to take a break. But that didn’t help the fact that she’d chosen Keefe. Then fell back on Fitz when Keefe came out.

Maybe he should’ve just taken what he’d got and been done with it. But his stupid pride interfeired. He didn’t want to be the rebound boy. If Sophie was gonna choose him, it was supposed to be because she loved him, not because there was no one else. 

And that amounted to their biggest fight yet. If it had been Sophie, in Biana’s place, if Fitz hadn’t been there, he would have regretted it. Maybe she would’ve to. Or maybe she didn’t care anymore.

He was always pining after her.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Fitz’s sobs melted through the door that Keefe and Sophie waited behind patiently. 

She couldn’t handle it anymore, he needed help. He needed not to be alone.

But Keefe wasn’t having it. If Sophie went in there, it was obvious what would happen. She would comfort him, he’d tell her he was a murderer, and Sophie wouldn’t let him say that. She’d shut him up and make him think otherwise, and he’d follow like the little lap dog he was. And it wasn’t healthy.

Keefe didn’t have to be an empath to know the two loved each other, a lot. The unconditional love he never got from his parents, mixed with that fluttery feeling Biana got when Dex walked into the room. It was probably the same feeling he got when he saw Tam. These two were lucky enough to have it, but they didn’t know it, and were on the verge of screwing it up.

They loved each other, yes, but they weren’t good for each other right now. The way people had to act with everything going on at the moment created a less than healthy environment for their relationship. If they kept going on and off now, it would amount to nothing, always end in fights, and one day they’d leave each other completely and marry people they didn’t love. Keefe knew that would be the biggest mistake they’d ever make.

So, to save them, when Sophie reached her hand towards the doorknob, he stopped her. “You know he doesn’t need to be reminded of your guys’s problems right now.”

Sophie looked like she wanted to argue, even got to opening her mouth, then seemed to realize he was right. So she shut her mouth and nodded slightly, turning around.

It killed Keefe to make Sophie sad, literally since he could feel it, but if they were ever going to be happy, they needed to take a break.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Biana saw Dex’s figure tripping slightly by the door through her hands. She felt the air move as he practically shoved it aside to get to her.

Dex was familiar, someone who reminded her of home. Someone who reminded her of all the good times. And suddenly scenes of talking in her room, chasing each other up trees outside her house, and kissing in the trees, came back to her.

The best part about Dex was how well he understood her. She didn’t need to ask for anything, he knew what to do. So when he reached her cot, he didn’t ask what was wrong or move her hands from her face. He simply climbed in next to her, and hugged her shoulders, resting his chin on her head.

The darkness was gone. Biana could feel the strong, safe arms around her, and could feel his head atop hers. She could smell that familiar strawberry cinnamon smell. She felt a small tear drip into her hair and turned into his chest, hugging him back the best she could without hurting her side.

Neither talked, they just wiped away one another's tears and hugged. Biana couldn’t tell how long this lasted until Dex kissed her cheek softly and whispered, “I love you.”

Biana tugged him down a little by the collar to brush her lips against his momentarily before responding, “I love you too.”

Communication was key. And there was so much they weren’t saying aloud. But just with their actions, they both knew what the other was thinking. It may sound cliche, but those three words were all they needed.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Keefe opened the door to the bathroom as Sophie walked out of the room, wiping her tears away subtly. 

Fitz noticed Keefe’s presence and started crying harder. Keefe had seen him at his worst before, but this was a whole new level. He was almost thrown back with the amount of guilt and sadness Fitz was feeling.

It broke his heart, quite literally, to see Fitz like this, laying on the floor crying so hard and fast that Keefe could already tell he;d be dehydrated the next day.

But he doesn’t say anything. He knows that if he does, Fitz will start calling himself a murderer and kicking and screaming that he shouldn’t be around them anymore. 

And plus, words are overrated. They’d been friends since before he could remember, they were practically brothers. Two people who’d spent more time with each other than anyone else in their entire lives, who were so in sync, didn’t need stupid words to help each other.

So Keefe crouched down next to him and helped him to sit against the wall for a moment, then slid down next to him and allowed Fitz’s head to fall into his lap. Keefe spotted little nail dents in the back of Fitz’s hand, and grabbed one of them to make sure he wouldn’t do it again. Fitz kept crying and shaking, and Keefe silently wiped away his tears and stroked his hair. 

Everyone always joked he was the mom of the group. Well he was doing quite a good job.

  * ❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•



Sophie stood in a hall, halfway between the Healing Center and the bathroom where Keefe and Fitz were. She could feel the tears sliding down her face but made an effort not to show any emotion as she leaned back against the wall.

She had screwed up with Fitz. Again. How could she ask him after Keefe? How could she have not noticed Keefe was gay for heaven’s sake?! After he’d told them it seemed like he had been practically walking around with a sign on his back saying  _ I like Tam Song! _

But he was a great actor, and she fell for his act. And he’d apologized non-stop, but she understood why. It had taken herself two years to tell her family she was bi, and it was worse in the Lost Cities.

The real problem was using Fitz as a rebound. Why had she done that? She still couldn’t figure it out. Sophie had been confused, lonely and afraid. She might as well have been drunk when she asked him out.

According to Keefe, emotion-drunk was a real thing, and she couldn’t agree more. Don’t drink and drive, don’t be emotionally confused around people you like. Neither ends well.

But what had happened had happened and now she couldn’t help but regretting it. But no matter what, Keefe was right. He didn’t need her right now. He needed someone who understood him. And Sophie knew that she did on some levels, but not all of them.

Eventually Tam came around the corner and leaned against the wall next to her. Complete silence besides the sound of Sophie’s tears hitting the floor filled the air.

After a couple of moments of this, Tam spoke, “You know you don’t have to be tough all the time.”

That was enough to break her. The man she’d learn how to push back emotions from, telling her it wasn’t needed. It was like telling a hard-core fan that their idol wasn’t all they were cracked up to be.

Sophie wasn’t a loud cryer, but she let out a huge sob before starting to sniffle as the waterfall came down harder. She stretched out her arms in front of her while saying, “I know you’re not a hugger, but…” Tam was like an older brother to her, and she needed comfort.

“You’re an exception,” Tam replied, wrapping his arms around her waist. People always joked that she and Biana were long-lost Songs because of the way Tam treated them. He just cared about them, that was all, and they were really close because of the time they spent together anyway. But Sophie really did feel like he was family.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Please tell me if you cried! That's who I aspire to be one day, someone who makes people cry. That sounded mean. Anyway this was made because I was listening to "High" on a walk and I realized that Fitzphie's relationship was high-key screwed up. And the only way they could have a good relationship was if they took a good break and actually were just friends for a while. So here's my plan, described in song.
> 
> Stage 1 - High by 5SOS - what you just read.
> 
> Stage 2 - Ghost of You by 5SOS - listen to the song and imagine Fitz and Sophie singing along and just overall mourning their relationship and being sad and sentimental.
> 
> Stage 3 - Moral of the Story by Ashe - listen to the song and imagine Sophie and Fitz seeing all the mistakes they made and why it wasn't working and what they needed to fix and seeing that their better off without it at the time.
> 
> Intermission - Then I need at least a year of chill with them just vibing being friends and not pining after each other.
> 
> Stage 4 - Defenseless by Louis Tomlinson - And then I need Sophie to IDK accidentally kiss him or screw up somehow, then say it was a mistake and then Dex to find out and be like "HEY! NO! STOP! GET SOME HELP!" and Sophie realizing she keeps screwing up cuz she doesn't know what the truth from her heart is and finally figures out she's in love with Fitz and always has been and they need to stop screwing up and being confused.
> 
> Stage 5 - Always You by Louis Tomlinson - So they get back together and make a pact to not be stupid about it.
> 
> So when the children ask how mommy and daddy got together, everyone, EVERYONE answers, "It was a mess. A big mess. One big colossal mess."
> 
> But really I do love this ship and it makes so much sense to me. I just think that with everything going on, their relationship won't survive that well. Sophie was right. They need to wait if they're gonna get it right.
> 
> YOU BETTER LIKE FITZ NOW! MY BABY BOY DOES NOT NEED TO BE HATED ON! AND TAM AND SOPHIE'S FRIENDSHIP HAS TO BE WAYYYY MORE PROMINENT IN THE SERIES. I NEED TAM ACTING LIKE AN OLDER BROTHER TO BIANA AND SOPHIE. I NEED KEEFE BEING THE MOM OF THE GROUP AND TAM BEING THE DAD. IT FITS SO WELLLL. I hope you liked it! Please comment!


End file.
